Brandon Neely named SEC Freshman Pitcher of the Week
Friday night Brandon Neely pitched the best game of his young career for the Florida Gator. On Monday he was recognized as the SEC Pitcher of the week for the effort.
Neely pitched seven shutout innings with just three hits allowed to earn the win vs. South Carolina on Friday. He struck out a career-high 10 batters with no walks and held the Gamecocks to a .125 batting average. Neely issued zero walks and hit zero batters, allowing just three baserunners all game.
Monday’s announcement marks the first-ever weekly SEC honor for Neely as well as the sixth weekly SEC accolade for Florida this season.
In seven starts joining the rotation, Neely is 2-1 with a 2.95 ERA, .173 batting average against and 44 strikeouts across 36 2/3 innings of work. On the season, he is 3-1 with one save, a 3.38 ERA, .192 BAA and 64 strikeouts over 56 frames.
“He was really good (Friday vs South Carolina) I didn’t know he struck out 10, but it was kind of reminiscent of the start he had against Tennesse,” Kevin O’Sullivan said. “I thought his pace was really good… I think that tonight in itself helped him a little bit to speed up the pace. For a couple innings he was still a little bit slow, but then by the third inning I think he got into a really good groove.”
O’Sullivan also offered more high praise of Neely with a comparison to a former pitcher.
“He kind of reminds me of Logan Shore that we had. A guy that can really pitch. There are other guys who might throw a little bit harder… but he really locates. He can change speeds. It’s hard to really put anything together because he really doesn’t hurt himself. It seems like he’s always in 1-2 counts, or 2-2 counts, rather than 3-1, 2-1 counts. He’s pretty advanced in that sense as far as knowing how to pitch and executing pitches.”
Neely joins list of Gators that have been named SEC Player of the Week
LHP Hunter Barco —SEC Pitcher of the Week (Feb. 21)
INF Colby Halter — SEC Co-Player of the Week (Feb. 28)
RHP Brandon Sproat — SEC Pitcher of the Week (March 7)
RHP Blake Purnell — SEC Co-Freshman of the Week (April 11)
C BT Riopelle — SEC Co-Player of the Week (May 9)
RHP Brandon Neely — SEC Freshman of the Week (May 23)
